


I Can Need You Like A Book

by BadHidingSpot



Series: Teen Wolf Book Club [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 01:41:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3710128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadHidingSpot/pseuds/BadHidingSpot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wanted to know what would happen if they tried to start a book club.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Need You Like A Book

**Author's Note:**

  * For [steamcurious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/steamcurious/gifts).



> Allydia if you squint.  
> Also: I write everything in wordpad (without spell check) so I apologize profusely for any and all spelling and grammar mistakes.

Stiles is sure that it is a good idea, but he's also sure that Scott will lose momentum for it in the first few days and give up. He's surprised one week later when Scott sends out a group text:  
My house on Sat @ 5 wrks 4 every1 bring 1 snax & their copy  
Stiles thinks that no one will show up then. Which is terrible because Scott clearly tried very hard at this and Stiles doesn't want his best friend's efforts to be wasted. This is why he begs and pleads with Lydia to go. It takes pleading through Allison but by the time Saturday evening rolls around all three of them are piled into Stiles's jeep. Lydia made macaroons and brought chai tea to brew. Allison bought some fancy kind of cheese and a Wheat Thins off brand called "Thin N' Wheaty". Stiles himself brought Coke and Cheetos (also off brand) and forgot his copy of the book.  
It's Derek who brings the wine, in box form, and the three are surprised to see him on the porch already when they pull up.  
"You know we're all under age right?" Stiles asks.  
"Of course I know that," Derek says it like the idea offends him to his core. Yes, he is nearing his mid-twenties and he's spending his Saturday night with a group of sixteen-year-olds. Nothing is worse than this to Derek so obviously he brought the wine to make it a little more legitimate in his eyes.  
"Did you bring your copy?" Allison asks. "Stiles forgot his," isn't necessary for her to add but she does add it and Stiles throws his hands up in the air in protest.  
"I read it all online okay? It's public domain!"  
Lydia knocks on the door because she doesn't care about any of this. She has pages and pages of notes and the movie adaptation with Timothy Dalton is burning a hole in her Prada purse.  
Scott looks distinctly flustered when he answers the door. His hair is flat and ruffled, his shirt (a button up one that Stiles knows he only wears on family Holidays) his wrinkled in a weird "fresh" kind of way, and his lips look oddly swollen.  
"You guys came!" He so excited, so gloriously surprised that Derek cracks a smile, just a small one, before pushing inside with the rest of them. Stiles quietly wonders when Derek became the leader, or maybe it's a quiet consent they all give without knowing it. Either way, Stiles trails after him easily.  
Scott, who has clearly dressed up for the occasion, is the beaming opposite of Isaac who is sitting on the living room floor, feet tucked under the coffee table as if he can't deign to rise to greet them. He's lazily dressed, maroon t-shirt, skinny black jeans, bored yet roguish expression. His hair is mussed too and his lips are also a little swollen. He half-smiles at them and Stiles realizes that it is a pale reflection of the way Derek smiles. Isaac's persona is all an attempt at emulating Derek. Someone large, dark, mysterious, and vaguely threatening. Isaac's face is too sweet and angelic for it. Derek, whether he has stubble or not but the stubble always helps, can glower darkly without even trying. A smile is much harder for Derek than it is for Isaac who, when he smiles, seems like he had the reigns on a stampede and he just let loose.  
Lydia has her notes out and is dividing them up into groups Stiles can't hope to comprehend. Allison readies the food and snacks, with Scott's help, strategically placing them out of Derek's reach so that, if he wants them, he'll have to sit up slightly and stretch out his hand. For this reason Stiles sits between Derek and the snacks so he can act as a liaison if need be. Derek never does ask so Stiles makes a habit of it through the night to pass the things he eats back to Derek in a quiet offer.  
"Which themes do you want to start with?" The rest of them aren't ready but Lydia's notes are so who cares? She insists are starting right then.  
Scott wiggles in next to Isaac, his feet going under the coffee table too. "Uh, themes? I don't know. What were you thinking?"  
Lydia is so very glad that Scott asked. "Let's start with the red room."  
Isaac tenses. Stiles notices and he also notices Derek noticing and then pretending not to notice. Stiles agrees this is a good course of action. Stiles, while he's at it, pretends not to notice Scott's knuckles brush lightly against Isaac's in comfort.  
"I didn't like the red room," Isaac says.  
Lydia rolls her eyes. "You can't just deliver an opinion. You have to make a point."  
"Why?"  
"It's an analysis."  
"It's a book club," Isaac says as if this is a correction.  
"A book club based around making intelligent analysis about the subject."  
"We have to do that in school already," Isaac groans.  
"How were you picturing it would go?" Allison, trying to keep a sense of peace in the room, turns to Scott.  
Scott stumbles for only a moment before shining a tension breaking smile. "I just thought we'd all read it and say what we think."  
"Like a review?" Lydia asks almost disgusted.  
"We could review the themes," Stiles suggests, "would that make everyone happy?" There is silent assent and Scott thanks Stiles with a look and a nod.  
"What didn't you like about the red room, Isaac?" Allison prompts. He shifts, trying to look too cool for this but everyone can see it's something else. Something deeper yet obvious.  
"I didn't like it either," Derek speaks plainly. Stiles isn't sure that Derek can speak any other way.  
"Neither did I," Scott agrees.  
Lydia screams with her mouth closed. "That's not a review. No one is saying why."  
"It seemed needlessly cruel to me," Scott says, "like really mean, you know? Like, Jane is so cool and likable and they just punish her for that. It's just mean."  
"It's a constructed narrative, Scott, nothing the characters do can be mean."  
"Well it's mean for the author to do it then," Isaac chimes in.  
"What do you suggest? That she just make every one and everything in the story happy the whole time? There wouldn't be a story. That would be boring. You need conflict!" Lydia is getting more fired up than Stiles has ever seen her. He and Allison share a look of amusement.  
"I thought it was all right because it served a purpose," Allison says, "the author does it to connect the character to Rochester's wife."  
"Exactly," Lydia is quite pleased.  
"Is it, like, an all woman connection thing?" Scott asks. "Like all women are trapped in their own attics?"  
"Not all women," Derek adds, "her aunt isn't trapped in a room."  
"She's bed ridden towards the end," Stiles says. "And her cousins, they're trapped in poverty."  
"Not St. John," Isaac says.  
"Well, no, he's free to go to another country, but he's a man isn't he?" Stiles feels he's very good at this. "And Adele is at the mercy of her-what's it called? What's Rochester to her?"  
"He's her father isn't he?" Scott asks.  
"No he's just caring for her," Allison answers.  
"But he might like be her dad, right? I thought I remembered something about that."  
Lydia huffs. "Am I the only one who read the book more than twice?"  
"We were supposed to read it twice?" Isaac's voice is one of pure outrage.  
"Of course you read it twice, how else are you supposed to catch all the subtleties?"  
Stiles puts his hand up. "Raise your hand if you've read it once and only once." Everyone, excpet Lydia and Derek, raise their hands.  
Allison shoots a questioning look at Derek who shrugs and says, "I read it in high school and again for today."  
Sitles can tell that Lydia wants to throw her notes up in the air but she doesn't because she spent so long putting them in order.  
"Anyone can feel trapped if you lock them in a room or an attic," Isaac says lowering his hand. "Maybe the point is that people want to cage up or be cruel to someone that inconveniences them with personality."  
"I really think it's supposed to draw a parallel between Jane and Bertha," Allison insists.  
"And alert the reader to the other worldly-ness of the novel," Derek adds.  
Allison powers onward as if Derek hasn't said anything. "You feel like they've both been locked away for being themselves."  
"If yourself is a raging drunk psychopath," Derek mutters.  
"Bertha isn't a psychopath!" Allison snaps.  
"She sets people on fire and tries to burn the house down."  
"That's after she's been trapped in an attic for god knows how long."  
"You don't get put in an attic for being nice."  
"Am I the only one who thought Rochester was the villain for a long time?" Scott laughs. "I really thought he was the bad guy."  
"There isn't a 'bad guy'," Lydia corrects, "there are opposing forces."  
"I thought that St. John was the bad guy. He was the worst." Derek looks at Stiles incredulously and then shrugs as if in agreement.  
"He's not bad he's just," Lydia waves her hand vaguely as if looking for the perfect title, "unpalatable. He doesn't really do anything Rochester doesn't do."  
"Except that Jane clearly wants to marry Rochester and agrees to while St. John just keeps trying to wear her down." Isaac is firm and annoyed.  
"Wear them down! That's my approach," Stiles hopes that someone will laugh but Allison and Scott only crack a smile while everyone else remains annoyed and silent.  
Lydia shuffles with her cards. She huffs, "These are all out of order now."  
"Let's take a break, maybe?" Scott suggests. They all agree. Isaac shoots up from his seat and rushes up the stairs without a word. Scott is after him in a few moments, his footing giving him trouble because, Stiles figures, his leg has gone to sleep.  
Stiles looks back at Derek's scowl and offers him the bowl of cheetos. "So you know something about all these themes Derek?"  
Derek smirks evilly. "I know a little something about trapping crazy ladies in attics."  
From the kitchen, where Allison has dragged her to calm her down, Lydia shouts, "That's all that it's about!" They hear Allison's noises of calm shushing and then whispers of annoyance. Stiles is uncomfortable with the lack of talk between them, almost as if something unbidden is hanging in the air. Stiles stands quickly.  
"I'm gonna go check on Scott and Isaac. Make sure everything is all right." He wants to get away from Derek, but Derek stands up instead.  
"Good idea. I'll go with you."  
"It's probably okay."  
"I should. For Isaac. You know." Stiles does know and it makes him uncomfortable that he didn't realize it until Derek said something. He nods in compliance and takes Derek up the stairs with them.  
There are whispers in Scott's bedroom just like there are whispers in the kitchen and it makes Stiles approach slowly as if sneaking up instead of his usual loud stride. Derek is always moving quietly, Stiles notices. He's like a cat in some ways and the idea of a purring Derek wrapping himself up in Stiles's lap on a cold winter morning makes his stomach do little flips.  
"I'm just not any good at this," Isaac sighs.  
"You're so much better than me. I'm terrible," Scott assures him.  
"You're not terrible. You're just not as good as Lydia."  
"This was a bad idea, maybe?"  
"Inviting her?"  
"The whole thing I think. I thought that it would, I don't know."  
"Would what?"  
"I thought it would make me, you know, smarter."  
Isaac chuckles. "You're smart."  
"No I'm not. You're smart."  
There's a long break, too long, and Stiles can't figure out why they would just stop talking. Then, Derek covers his mouth as if he's laughing, and moves quietly back down the stairs. Stiles still doesn't understand so he continues forward down the hall and peeks into Scott's open bedroom.  
He sees enough. He sees Isaac's mouth glued to Scott's nipple, and he sees Scott's body writhing underneath mouth agape and eyes shut, and he sees a bulge into both of their pants grinding together, but he mainly sees the dark purple shapes of places on Scott's chest that indicate this isn't the first time.  
Stiles, out of respect for his friend among other reasons, runs down the stairs and slams into Derek. He doesn't apologize. Stiles smacks Derek on the chest with the back of his hand.  
"You could have said something."  
"I thought you knew," Derek replies coolly.  
"How would I know?"  
"It seemed obvious to me." Derek looks wistfully up the stairs. "But I guess you don't pick up on those kinds of things, Stiles." Derek turns and heads down the stairs before Stiles can ask him to elaborate.


End file.
